- A ‘dinosaur highway’ has been discovered in southern England with nearly 200 tracks dating back 166 million years.
- Some tracks show trails of Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to almost 60 feet (18 meters) long. Another set was of Megalosaurus, a 30-foot-long predator and the first dinosaur to be given a scientific name two hundred years ago.
- The findings will be shown in a new exhibition at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and broadcast on the BBC’s ‘Digging for Britain’ program next week.
A worker excavating clay at a limestone quarry in southern England noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks dating back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday.
The extraordinary find, made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire in June, expands on previous paleontological work in the area and offers further insight into the Middle Jurassic period, according to researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham.
“These footprints provide an extraordinary window into the life of dinosaurs‘, revealing details about their movements, interactions and the tropical environment in which they lived,’ says Kirsty Edgar, professor of micropalaeontology at the University of Birmingham.
Workers gather around five expansive railway tracks that were part of a “dinosaur highway” at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
Four of the tracks that make up the so-called highway show paths taken by giant long-necked herbivores called sauropods, believed to be Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet (18 meters) in length. A fifth set belonged to Megalosaurus, a ferocious 30-foot predator that left a distinctive three-clawed footprint and was the first dinosaur to be given a scientific name two centuries ago.
An area where the tracks cross raises questions about possible interactions between carnivores and herbivores.
“Scientists have known about and studied Megalosaurus longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove that there is still new evidence that these animals are out there, waiting to be discovered,” says Emma Nicholls, a vertebrate paleontologist at New York University. Oxford University Natural History Museum.
Nearly 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints discovered in a limestone quarry in the area are considered among the world’s most scientifically important dinosaur tracks. But that area is now largely inaccessible and there is limited photographic evidence because it predates the use of digital cameras and drones to record the findings.
Workers carefully study dinosaur footprints found at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (Emma Nicholls/OUMNH via AP)
The group working at the site this summer captured more than 20,000 digital images and used drones to create 3D models of the prints. The wealth of documentation will aid future studies and shed light on the size of the dinosaurs, how they walked and the speed at which they moved.
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“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet pressed in and out,” says Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford Museum. “Together with other fossils such as burrows, shells and plants, we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment that the dinosaurs walked through.”
The findings will be shown in a new exhibition at the museum and will also be broadcast on the BBC’s ‘Digging for Britain’ program next week.
